Hermione snickered as she walked into her bedroom. “He thinks I’ll get jealous if he gets a girlfriend?” She asked herself with a scoff. “Definitely not! Why would I be jealous? There’s no reason to be jealous. Because I don’t like him!” She told herself as she fell backwards onto her bed. “I would only be jealous if I liked him . . . and I don’t like him. So, I can’t possibly get jealous if I see him flirting with another girl. I have no right to. We’re not dating, we’re just friends.” She rambled on and on to herself, slowly trying to convince herself. “We’re just friends . . .” She repeated to herself and felt disappointment overwhelm her. “Just friends . . .” She said quietly and looked up at the ceiling. “That’s what we are and nothing more than that.” She clarified and groaned as she closed her eyes. “No need to be jealous, then.”

But, once her eyes shut, an image of Draco with another girl, flirting and kissing popped up out of nowhere. She immediately opened her eyes and shot up from her bed. “I don’t care if he goes out on a date with another girl. He can snog and shag her for all I care!” She yelled as she crossed her arms across her chest. She frowned deeply and licked her dry lips. “What’s wrong with me?” She asked herself with wide eyes. “Am I . . . am I jealous?”

She shook her head in refusal immediately. “No. I’m not jealous. I’m simply . . . just worrying about him. Yeah . . . just worrying about him. Who knows? Maybe the girl might hurt him and he might get really devastated.” She knew that that was the lamest—no, dumbest excuse ever made but her pride got the best of her. She wasn’t jealous, she was simply overly worried about him, or so she thought. She nodded in approval now, agreeing with herself. “You are not jealous.” She said proudly with a smile. But then that pesky voice thought differently.

“Stop lying to yourself. You’re jealous just thinking about Malfoy being with someone else.”

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows as she bit her bottom lip.

“I am not jealous.” She retorted back to herself, trying to stay on the positive side.

“You so are, we both know it.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“I refuse to believe in such . . . in such trivial words!”

“Stop denying it. You--no, I know it’s true”

“There’s nothing to deny.”

“Damn, I am too stubborn; I can’t even convince myself on something.”

“I’m not jealous of Draco Malfoy being with someone else other than me.”

“Sure.”

She snapped out of her thoughts and jumped off her bed, pacing back and forth in her room. She continued to bite her bottom lip and placed one hand on her hip while the other ran through her hair and rested on her forehead. “I’m now having fights with myself? Why am I so worked up about this?” She asked herself suddenly. “I’m the one, who pushed him to talk to other girls, I shouldn’t be jealous. That proves that I’m not capable of getting jealous because I’m helping him.” She explained to herself and slightly smiled. “Good.”

“Hey, Hermione—“

“I’M NOT JEALOUS!” She suddenly yelled as she turned around towards the door. She gasped and closed her mouth tightly when she saw Harry standing in front of her. “Harry,”

“This seems like a bad time to talk to you.” He said as he stared at her quizzically.

“I was just hoping I could spend Christmas with my two best friends together . . . not just one.” Harry said with a sad grin.

“Harry—“ She said as she felt a pang of guilt.

“No, it’s okay. I’m sorry for suggesting that. I’ll just leave you to whatever you were doing.”

“Harry—“

“It’s fine, Hermione.” Harry said with a small grin as he walked out of the room.

Hermione let out a deep sigh as she frowned deeper. “Great . . .” She breathed out and placed her hand on her forehead, sighing. She licked her dry lips and quickly ran out of the room, trying to reach Harry when she suddenly bumped into him. “Harry?” She asked with astonishment.

“Ten seconds, Hermione. Not too shabby, although it did worry me. I thought you weren’t coming out of there.” He said with a sly grin.

“You knew I was going to come out, didn’t you?” She asked as she slightly punched him in the arm.

“What are best friends for? We know everything about each other.” He said with a small laugh.

“Well, I’m guessing you know my answer, then?” She asked with a sigh of relief.

“It’d be nice if you told be yourself.”

“The thing is . . . I might have already made some plans with someone else.” She said as she bit her bottom lip. “But, we can all get together for Christmas Eve, right?”

“Christmas Eve sounds great. I’m quite jealous of whoever gets to have you all day for Christmas. I feel replaced.” Harry told her with a goofy grin.

“Don’t be. I’m not doing it to have fun . . . I have things to take care of.” She told him quietly and sighed. “I’ve missed you a lot, Harry. Everything going on with Ron and Lavender and Draco—“

She suddenly got cut off by a hug and she let out a relieved sigh and hugged her best friend.

“I thought you might’ve needed a hug.” Harry told her as he continued to hug her tightly.

“Thank you.” She said sweetly as she smiled. “I really needed it.” She said, pulling away from the hug. “You know, you can sit with me during breakfast . . . and lunch . . . possibly dinner.”

“Ron will kill me.” Harry said with wide eyes. “I’m in.” He cracked a grin. “Let’s just see how great of a friend Malfoy is . . . it seems to me like you replaced me with him. He must be an okay guy, I suspect?”

“We aren’t exactly the best of friends, Harry Potter. He will never replace you as my best friend. You’re the closest thing I have to a brother, you’re irreplaceable. Draco is just . . . a friend.”

“Really? It seems to me like you two fancy each other.” Harry responded with a smirk.

Hermione snorted and scoffed. “Don’t be silly.” She said and cleared her throat, slightly blushing. “Friends. Just that.”

“You keep thinking that, Hermione.” He told her and walked off towards the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning, then. Ginny’s waiting for me outside.” He winked and walked out of the room.

Hermione sighed and shook her head. “Harry Potter . . . please don’t hate me when you find out what I’m doing.” She said quietly and pursed her lips. She crossed her arms across her chest and took a deep breath in.

. . . . . .

Hermione continued to read her book in front of the fireplace. It was exactly eleven fifty-six when she heard the portrait door swing open and footsteps coming towards her. Draco. She slightly scoffed and her eyes remained on the page.

“I must say, thank you so much for introducing me to that wonderful girl back there.” His voice suddenly cut the silence and he looked down at her.

“You welcome.” She said curtly.

“You aren’t jealous or anything so I guess I can tell you what we did.” He said as he sat down next to her.

Hermione slammed the book and looked at him. “Of course I’m not jealous.” She said and immediately shut her mouth. She was jealous and he knew.

“That’s what I just said.” Draco said with a smirk and let out a relieved sigh. “But now that you say that, you must be jealous.” He said slowly and stared at her. “You’re jealous, right?” He asked with a teasing smile.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” She protested as she slightly laughed, shaking her head in denial.

“Why else you would be avoiding eye contact and—“

“I’m reading, obviously.” She snapped at him as she looked at him, holding the book up.

“I think there’s another reason.” Draco pushed a bit more as his smirk widened.

“You’re wrong, then.” She simply stated, reopening her book and looking down at a random page.

“I don’t know, Hermione, I think you’re jealous.”

“You can think whatever you want, Draco.” She said sternly through her teeth, keeping her eyes on the page.

“Fine, but since you aren’t jealous, I guess I can tell you all about Clare? Yes?”

Hermione stiffened at the name and she crinkled her face when she heard the smirk in his voice. She was very jealous. She forced a grin and looked up. “Clare, huh? What did you two talk about?”

“We talked about all sorts of things, really. I walked her back to her dorm and now I’m here.”

“How lovely. Is she your new girlfriend?” She asked as she hid her frown.

“No . . . not yet.” He replied back shortly after.

“Yet?” She asked quickly with a glare. She immediately cleared her throat and looked away. “I mean, that’s great.” She told him through her teeth.

“ Jealous?” She asked with an incredulous laugh but under all that, her body froze.

“Precisely.” His smirk widened—if that was even possible.

Hermione snapped her neck, facing him with a glare. “I’m not jealous.”

“Really?” He pushed and leaned in a bit closer.

“Of course.” She snapped back at him and slightly smirked. “Why? Do you want me to be jealous?” She asked, turning the conversation over to him.

Draco slightly got caught off guard and leaned back a little. He cleared his throat and shook his head. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t care if you’re jealous or not.”

“Oh, but that contradicts what you asked me a few seconds ago. Clearly, you want me to admit that I’m jealous—which I’m not. Why do you want me to be jealous?”

“I’m just te—“

“Oh, don’t try too hard, Draco. I know you want my attention by talking to other girls and trying to make me jealous but it’s not happening.” She told him with a small grin as she placed a hand on his cheek, lightly tapping it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about—“

“How about this? I’ll leave you alone whenever and you can go take Clare on a nice date or two.” She cut him off and got up. “Don’t try too hard next time.” She winked and grabbed her book, walking towards her door.

Draco looked at Hermione in complete, utter defeat. Another score for Hermione granger. Draco slightly smirked as he looked down at his plate. “I clearly underestimated you again . . .” He muttered under his breath, lightly chuckling as he walked over to his bedroom. “Oh, one more thing.” He shouted and turned around to see her waiting impatiently in front of her door. “Goodnight Granger . . .”

“Is that all?” She asked from her door, clearly waiting to go inside and sleep.

“Oh yeah . . .” He nodded and slightly scoffed. “Anyone can see that you, Hermione Granger, are jealous of Clare.” He finally muttered under his breath but loud enough for Hermione to hear as he walked into his bedroom, leaving behind a frustrated Hermione.

One point for Draco Malfoy.

. . . . . .

The next morning, Hermione walked out of her bedroom and saw Ginny, Blaise, and Draco all seated on the two love seats. Blaise and Ginny shared one while there was an empty spot next to Draco. “What is all this?” She asked as she walked over to them, sitting next to Draco.

Ginny smirked and sighed. “Well, Zabini, here, wanted to have a meeting with all of us.”

“About?” Draco asked as he stared at his friend.

“I’ve realized the whole house rule and punishments aren’t working out. I mean, we all broke each and every one of the rules at least once and we never do the whole punishments and—“

“What he’s trying to say it that he thinks we should just get rid of the rules.” Ginny cut in and looked at them. “Yes? We agree?”

Hermione and Draco nodded. “Is that all?” Draco asked with an are-you-serious-look.

“You two wanted to talk about that?” Hermione asked with a frown.

Blaise frowned and cleared his throat. “Well, as a fellow roommate, I felt like we should’ve . . . talked together about this.” He said bitterly. “Well, I guess since all of you don’t appreciate it. I’ll take my leave.” He said and quickly left the room.

Ginny shook her head and rolled her eyes. “He’s like a little kid. One little thing and he gets upset.” She complained and got up, staring at the two. “I’ll see you during breakfast.” She said and walked off.

“So, did you sleep okay?” Draco asked casually as he stared at Hermione.

“No.” She snapped at him with a sigh.

“Why not? I didn’t lose a wink of sleep last night.” He smirked as he snickered.

She stared at him for a long time and sighed as she rolled her eyes. “I’m not even going to fight with you today because it is a very special day for us.”

“I know it is.” He said and smirked.

“That’s right!” Hermione said, completely oblivious to the tone in his voice.

“I’m guessing you were waiting for this?” He asked, completely thrown off by her response. Were they thinking about the same thing or . . .?

“Well, Christmas is in about five days. We still have presents to buy and all so let’s go to Hogsmeade today.” She said with a wide grin.

“Are you serious?” He asked as his smirk dropped off his face. Nope, they were on completely two different pages.

“Of course, what else?” She asked as she scoffed.

Draco stared at her for a few more seconds and got an idea. He casually nodded and shrugged. “Okay, fine by me. You’re still not getting your wand back, though.” He said with a smirk.

“You’re not getting yours back either.” She told him with a smirk as she winked at him. “Get ready.”

“Wait, we’re going now?” He asked as he furrowed his eyebrows.

“Yes, we don’t have a lot of time, you know. I mean, this is a huge deal. We’re sneaking off to Hogsmeade and well since we’re legal adults . . . we can do anything there without getting in trouble.” She said with an excited grin, with that same childish glint in her eye.

“Oh, I know that look.” He said as he stared at her. “You always look like that when you’re nervous and really excited to break a rule.” He said and shook his head. “Are you sure you want to just leave right now in the morning?”

“I’m positive.” She told him as she nodded.

“What about Blaise and Weaslette?” He asked curiously, staring down at her.

“They’ll assume we’re somewhere else. We’ll tell them about it after we come back.” She said with a groan. “Well?”

“But, I’m really hungr—“

“We’ll eat when we get there.” She told him as she got up. “We’re wasting time. Are you in or are you out?”

“The person you should be asking is yourself. I’ve snuck out plenty of times but you? I’m not so sure.” He said with a smirk, getting up and stretching.

“This will be so much fun! Breaking another school rule and just the fact that we can get expelled if we get caught—it’s frightening and very exciting.” She said eagerly and smiled. “We’ll meet back in an hour.” She announced and ran into her room excitedly.

Draco chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Oh boy . . . she’s worse than handling a four year old on Christmas.” He muttered and couldn’t help but to smile a bit. “The things she’s making me do.” He said and walked off into his room.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! We’re getting close to Christmas in this story. Whoot! Whoot! Please leave a review and I’ll try to post up the next one ASAP. Thank you all for reading and leaving a review. :)